The Presidents and the General Secretaries of Federations (AIRF & NFIR) called on you yesterday i.e. 29th June 2016 and conveyed our serious disappointment as well unhappiness among railway employees on the Government’s decisions relating to VIIth Central Pay Commission’s recommendations.

We are extremely sad to convey that the Government has not reasonably dealt with our demands mainly minimum wage, multiplier factor, abolition of National Pension System in Railways etc. The railways specific issues mentioned in Part ‘B’ of Charter of demands have also not been settled through discussions.

We have also conveyed to you that the industrial peace is being threatened in railways on account of Government’s unreasonable and illogical decisions. During discussions, we have specially requested to kindly reach Hon’ble Prime Minister for conveying the total disappointment among all categories of railway employees and for finding ways and means to resolve matters to avert untoward developments in Railways. Here it is worth-mentioning that on previous occasion too during the course of discussions, we had requested for our meeting with Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.

We therefore request you to kindly approach the Hon’ble Prime Minister for solving the issues amicably as we are keen to preserve healthy industrial relations in railways. We trust that the railway specific issues will be resolved through negotiations under your leadership without further delay.

Central has proposed to refer the issue of Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula to a Committee for reconsideration – NJCA

Latest Update – NJCA has issued a statement on 01.07.2016

NJCA

National Joint Council of Action

4, State Entry Road New Delhi – 110055

No. NJCA/2016 Dated: July 1, 2016

Dear Comrade!

We are to inform you that the NJCA had a discussion with the Government of India yesterday, i.e.30.06.2016 over certain demands contained in our Charter of Demands. In the meeting, following ministers were present: –Shri Rajnath Singh, Hon’ble Home MinsterShri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Finance MinisterShri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Railway MinisterShri Manoj Sinha, Hon’ble MoS Railway

On behalf of the NJCA, the following participated in the discussion: –

Mumbai: Implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations is expected to boost consumption by Rs 45,110 crore and increase savings by Rs 30,710 crore, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has said.

On June 29, the Cabinet approved implementation of the pay panel, which has recommended an overall salary hike of 23.5 per cent.

One crore government employees and pensioners will get a 2.5 times hike in basic pay and pensions under the recommendations that will cost the exchequer Rs 1.02 lakh crore annually, which the government said will have a multiplier effect on the economy.

The rating agency said after the sharing of central taxes with the states, the Centre’s net tax revenue will rise by Rs 14,100 crore, or 0.09 per cent of GDP, in FY17.

While the employees will get salary arrears from January 1, 2016, allowances will be paid only from today (July 1).

“Thus, the gross impact of 7th Pay Commission is likely to be Rs 94,775 crore. The Central Government will receive income tax on this pay out and collect excise duty on consumption after sharing the increase in income tax and excise duty with States. Thus, the net impact on the Central Government finances is estimated to be Rs 80,641 crore,” it said.

Ind-Ra believes the impact of pay revision of State Government employees will be felt only in FY18.

“The Pay Commission award is expected to be less severe on state finances than expected earlier due to a lower arrear pay out. In all likelihood, the impact of a salary revision of the Seventh Central Pay Commission on State Government finances will be Rs 1.58 lakh crore in FY18,” it said.

The agency does not see any immediate threat to inflation due to the award.

“Though consumer price inflation may inch up somewhat due to higher prices of services, impact on wholesale price index is likely to be muted due to the counter balance provided by the deflation in commodity prices and the availability of excess capacity in several manufacturing sectors,” it said.

7th Pay Commission might be issued next week and the government employees will start receiving new pay cheques

'Notification on ‘7th Pay Commission’ next week’

New Delhi: The notification on 7th Pay Commission might be issued next week and the government employees will start receiving new pay cheques from this month.

The top Finance Ministry officials on Thursday said that notification in this regard is expected to be issued next week.

The union cabinet had on Wednesday approved the he long-awaited 7th pay commission Report’s recommendations hiking salaries of central government employees as well as pensions.

Initially, the public servants will be able to draw the hiked part of their basic pay and they will start receiving the hiked allowances five to six months later.

For example, employees belonging to the minimum pay of the existing 6th Pay Commission scale had so far been drawing a Rs 7,000 basic salary plus allowances. From July, their basic pay will rise to Rs 18,000, but their allowances will remain the same until the committee headed by the Finance Secretary to announce new allowances.

The officials said since the pay scale will be made effective retrospectively from January 1 this year, the public servants will be able to claim their arrears from the day after the notification is issued.

After the cabinet meeting, the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said government salaries have to be competitive with the private sector, for which the Commission had engaged IIM-Ahmedabad to make the comparison.

“This will attract best talent in the government sector,” said the minister.

However, as per the cabinet approval, the minimum pay is now Rs 18,000 and maximum is Rs 2.5 lakh, but ideally the minimum should have been 1/10th of the maximum, the employees’s union leaders claimed.

The Cabinet ditto with the 7h Pay Commission recommendations, the commission recommended 23.55 per cent hike in salaries, allowances and pensions and a 14.27 per cent increase in basic pay for Central government employees, the lowest in 70 years.

The central government employees are in for disappointment as the cabinet approved a 14.27 per cent hike in basic pay, which is significantly lower than what the 6th pay commission had recommended. Sixth Pay Commission had recommended a 20 per cent hike in basic pay which the government doubled while implementing it in 2008.

The Congress and the Left parties Thursday came out in support of the indefinite strike from July 11 call given by central government employees’ unions to protest the “inadequate” hike in their salaries. While the Congress said the hike was the worst in the last 70 years, the CPM said it was “disappointing.”

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar admitted that “some” of the recommendations that he had strongly pushed on behalf of the armed forces have “not” been accepted.

7th Pay Commission – Armed Forces unhappy – We are still awaiting finer details to come out but on the look of it there are “not bright spots” as of now, defence sources said.

The armed forces are unhappy with the cabinet approval of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations saying the anomalies that they had highlighted has not been taken care of.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar admitted that “some” of the recommendations that he had strongly pushed on behalf of the armed forces have “not” been accepted.

We are still awaiting finer details to come out but on the look of it there are “not bright spots” as of now, defence sources said.

They said that the fact that the government has set up a committee to look into anomalies arising out of implementation of the Commission’s report is itself an indicator that their concerns have not been taken into account.

Sources said the demand for uniform pay matrix has not been taken into account and that the allowances have not been brought at par with civilian employees.

Non implementation of common pay matrix means that defence pay matrix will be restricted to 24 pay levels even though the bureaucratic pay level is 40.

Another issue of concern is the non-implementation of Non Functional Upgradation (NFU) which would have allowed armed forces personnel to get upper grade of salary even when not promoted like their civilian counterparts.

One of the main grudge that the armed forces have is with regard to risk-hardship matrix. The officers say that a soldier posted in Siachen Glacier, which has the highest degree of both risk and hardship, gets an allowance of Rs 31,500 per month.

In contrast, a civilian bureaucrat from the All India Services draws 30 per cent of his salary as “hardship allowance” when posted anywhere outside the comfort zone.

Under the new scale, a senior IAS official posted in a city in northeast will draw much more as “hardship allowance”, compared to the Rs 31,500 per month drawn by military officers in Siachen.

In a far-reaching decision likely to start a heated political debate, the central government has asked the Law Commission to “examine” the issue of implementing the uniform civil code.

Govt takes big step towards Implementing uniform Civil Code – A uniform civil code will mean a set of common personal laws for all citizens.

In a far-reaching decision likely to start a heated political debate, the central government has asked the Law Commission to “examine” the issue of implementing the uniform civil code.

This is the first time a government has asked the commission, which has a crucial advisory role on legal reform, to look into the politically controversial issue of a uniform civil code.

A uniform civil code will mean a set of common personal laws for all citizens. Currently, for example, there are different personal laws for Hindus and Muslims. Personal law covers property, marriage and divorce, inheritance and succession.
The political debate on a uniform civil code has been highly charged, and it is often entwined with a debate on secularism.

Those for and against such a code offer differing interpretations of the social and religious impact of a uniform civil code.

Officials familiar with the matter told ET that the law ministry has written to the Law Commission and sought a detailed report on the subject. These officials did not want to be identified. ET has reviewed a copy of the letter sent by the law ministry’s department of legal affairs to the commission.

The letter asks the Law Commission to “examine the matter in relation to uniform civil code and submit a report”. The ministry has also sent documents relating to existing case law and discussions on case law relating to the uniform civil code.

The Law Commission, currently headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan, will submit its report after discussions with experts and stakeholders, officials said.

Article 44 of the Directive Principles, enshrined in the Constitution, sets implementation of uniform civil code as the “duty of the State”.

In an interview to ET in January this year, Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda had said that “as far as national integration is concerned, this (uniform civil code) is one of the aspects that we have to take care of “. However, Gowda had added the process will “entail time because of so many personal laws across the country. There are so many other customs and rituals, and emotions attached to the issue. Slowly and steadily we need to put it in public domain”.

New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) The Union Cabinet, which on Wednesday announced implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, has decided to constitute three separate committees, including one to look into the anomalies likely to arise out of enforcement of the commission’s Report.

“The two separate committees constituted includes for suggesting measures for streamlining the implementation of National Pension System (NPS) and to look into anomalies likely to arise out of implementation of the Commission’s Report,” said the statement.

The cabinet approved the Seventh Pay Commission Report’s recommendations for central government employees, which will impact the some 47 lakh central government employees and 53 lakh pensioners.

The cabinet has also constituted a committee to address the implementation issues vis-a-vis revision of pension.

“The general recommendations of the Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their implementation,” an official statement said.

A large number of pension cases would be
due for revision consequent to the implementation of 7th CPC
recommendations. Revision of such large number of cases would not be
possible in short span of time unless the same are done electronically
under digital signatures of the PAOs. Further, this will also streamline
and make all future revision process digital & efficient.

2. To meet the requirement of pension
revisions through digitally signed revision authorities, a system is
under development/testing by CPAO. In this system, digitallly signed
Revision Authorities will take place of the physical revision
authorities so far being received from PAOs. For signing these
authorities, digital signatures of all the PAOs dealing with pension
cases and their registration in CPAO website would be required. CPAO had
already requested all the Pr.CCAs/CCAs/CAs/AGs and Administrators of
UTs vide its OM.No.CPAO/Coor/(99)/2015-16/1018 dated-21.12.2015 followed
by OM.No.CPAO/Coord/(99)/2015-16/1048 dated 12.01.2016 (Copies
enclosed) for obtaining of digital signatures of all pension processing
PAOs. However, progress in this regard has been very slow and still many
PAOs have not obtained the digital signatures.

3. In view of above, all
Pr.CCAs/CCAs/CAs/AGs and Administrators of UTs are requested to review
the status in this regard and arrange the digital signatures for the
remaining PAOs urgently latest by 5th July, 2016 to avoid any
inconvenience at later stage. As soon as the testing of system is over,
step by step process of digital signature registration on CPAO website
and schedule of training on the new system for PAOs/AAOs and dealing
hands will be intimated.

4. Pr.CCAs/CCAs/CAs/AGs and
Administrators of UTs are further requested to certify the availability
of digital signatures for their all pension processing PAOs under their
login in CPAO website.

Cabinet accepts both two options for fixation of 7th CPC Revised Pension

7th CPC Recommended following Two options for fixation of Revised Pension.

1. Pay Scale on Retirement and Number of Increment Earned in the scale of Retiring Grade will be taken for fixation of Pension

In this method Pension will be fixed in the Pay Matrix on the basis of the Pay Band and Grade Pay at which they retired.

2. Using Multiplication Factor 2.57

Existing Basic Pension to be multiplied by 2.57.

When the NJCA met the Cabinet Secretary,
they observed that Govt is not going to accept second option due to
non-availability of Records to verify their Pay Level at the retiring
stage. Objections were raised by Pensioners Association to this move and
they requested the government to retain both two options to avoid
disparity between Pre 2016 and Post 2016 Pensioners.

The Central government in principle
accepted the two options recommended for fixation of Revised Pension.
But to address the issues anticipated when implementation in process,
govt decided to constitute a committee to examine the feasibility of
using First Option for fixation of Pension. It said, if found feasible,
it will be implemented. The Committee has been given four months’ time
to submit its report.

The govt decision on Pension related issues is given below

“The general recommendations of the
Commission on pension and related benefits have been approved by the
Cabinet. Both the options recommended by the Commission as regards
pension revision have been accepted subject to feasibility of their
implementation. Revision of pension using the second option based on
fitment factor of 2.57 shall be implemented immediately. A Committee is
being constituted to address the implementation issues anticipated in
the first formulation. The first formulation may be made applicable if
its implementation is found feasible after examination by proposed
Committee which is to submit its Report within 4 months.”